Notes: In response to the people who expressed their disappointment about the OC section being so short: Um, no. That last chapter was definitely not all you're going to see of the OC-creation section. It promises to be hideously long and headache-inspiring from where I'm standing.
On the other hand, I am sorry about posting such a tiny chapter after months of not updating. Hopefully, this one will make up for it a little.
Title was suggested by Tzadikim, although I couldn't remember it completely. So it was tweaked a little.
5a. The Good, The Bad and The Disturbing, Part 1
(ie; an attempt at defining the Mary-Sue)
"Mary Sue is a derogatory term primarily used in Fan Fic circles to describe a particular type of character. This much everyone can agree on. What that character type is, exactly, differs wildly from circle to circle, and often from person to person."
- From the Tvtropes page on Mary-Sues
A Sue is a very, very relative term. Put a group of people together and ask them to discuss Sues, and it's possible you'll get a different opinion from every person. What's Sueish for one person might not be Sueish for another. It is very much a personal thing, and trying to find a definition everyone will agree on might not be a good way to spend your time. Sure, there are MS Litmus Tests. But keep in mind that these are made by people who already have a personal idea of what a Sue is like. And if that wasn't enough, most MS tests have disclaimers which point out that a high score is not necessarily indicative of a Mary Sue.
Clear-cut, this is not. And it doesn't help that there are many different types of Sues, each of which are classified as Sues based on entirely different criteria.
A List of Mary-Sue Archetypes
i. Purity Sue: Almost always female. So pure and incorruptible that everyone loves her. People fall over themselves trying to protect her, and her death will make them angst like there's no tomorrow. She's the light of everyone's world. No exceptions.
ii. God Mode Sue: May be male or female. The talents/superpowers he/she has are uncountable, immeasurable and above all inexplicable. He/she could slice Superman into bits with his/her katana without requiring the use of Kryptonite, and still have enough MP left over to create an alternate universe.
iii. Relationship Sue: Female, mostly, but males aren't unheard of; especially in slash fics. Exists for the sole purpose of taking over the heart, body, soul and usually the characterization of a popular member of the canon cast. Established relationships are often a casualty in this case.
iv. Sympathetic Sue: Female or occasionally male. Possessed of a backstory filled with angst (typically involving parental abandonment, abuse, dead goldfish and so on). This is presumably done for the purpose of tugging at the reader's heartstrings. It doesn't really work, primarily because of the sheer amount of whining involved.
v. Jerk Sue: Female or male. Treats people like garbage and is generally a Jerkass. Inexplicably this will be accompanied not by said people trying to strangle him/her, but by them trying to commit suicide because he/she does not approve of them. Because in-universe, her actions are always justified.
vi. Black Hole Sue: Can be of either sex. Recognized by how anything she/he comes into contact with, be it a plot point, character or situation, immediately arranges itself into a form designed to suit his/her purposes. Reality warper.
/end list
While many common Sue traits are shared by multiple -if not all- types, said traits may not necessarily prove that a person is a Sue. Anybody who's stunningly beautiful/handsome, possessed of a truckload of superpowers and complete with a Meaningful Badass Name is not necessarily a Sue by definition. It really, really depends on how you write them. And this is important, because when you write them badly, you get Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. In general, any and all of the 'common' Mary Sue traits can be turned on it's head and poked at till it's justified, makes sense and actually acts as a plot point.
But for people who aren't looking to make a statement by subverting clichés and just want to make decent characters, here's a checklist of common MS indicators you might want to avoid.
Note that the common element in everything listed below is the lack of realism. To make any of them work, all you need is an explanation, a justification or sufficient buildup wrapped up in competent writing. Because traits alone do NOT make a Sue.
I cannot emphasize that enough.
A General List of Traits Associated with Suesim
1. Speshulness of Physical Appearance and Names
The least important part, really. Since what a character looks like is nowhere near as important as what a character does, you can easily have an OC who fits into each and every one of these traits and still make them very much a Non-Sue. But in case of beginner screw-ups, it is also the most recognizable, most obvious stumbling point. Which is probably why it's generally listed first.
a. Hair
When describing an MS, the part of her (or him, but mostly her) which gets more attention than any other is usually the hair, because there are a lot of things you can do with it. The OC may typically have Rapunzel Hair that reaches down to her knees or floats out behind her like a wedding train. She might have hair in of unusual colour (like blue, purple, green or white in a tween/teen) or unusual highlights (like silver streaks on purple hair) or multicolured hair (blue and green and purple existing together in total harmony).
Again, this only applies in non-Anime universes. Especially in the shonen genre. Anime Universes have Hair Laws which defy time, gravity and circumstance. But PJO is, unfortunately, not an animeverse. Tread with caution.
b. Facial Features
MS facial features are not usually described that well. Mostly, they get by with adjectives, 'stunning', 'striking', 'flawless' and 'beautiful' being popular words.
This is actually enough in volume, if rather off-putting in content (because you really should know that calling your character's features 'flawless' is a good way to push her/him into MS-ocean with dumbbells around the ankles). Facial features rarely play a role in whatever happens in a story, unless it's in direct relation to a family member or an evil twin or something. People might care enough about a well-loved character to grasp eagerly at little tidbits like 'snub-nosed' or 'thin-lipped', but chances are that a detailed, descriptive paragraph when introducing an OC will be skimmed over or perhaps even skipped altogether by the reader. If you really want to add in facial details, slip them in later on in the story, when the character is better established.
One feature which actually gets detailed attention more often than not is, of course, the eyes. They may be described as large and long-lashed (cheesy in itself), but they're mostly described based on the colour. Again, the kind of colors that commonly occur in nature (brown, blue, hazel) are largely ignored in favour of uncommon (statistically, green qualifies for this; it's still better than red or purple) or outright exotic shades (silver, gold). Also, the eyes might change shades in different lights or moods, which while possible is something of a run-away-screaming-from-story-NOW aspect. Try to avoid. Realism, folks.
c. Body Type
Now, as a species, we humans have a truckload of body image issues. It really translates into bad writing.
The girls will typically be tall and skinny with chests much bigger than the rest of them put together. The guys, despite being in their early teens/tweens will have muscular or 'athletic' bodies which make people drool all over them. Nobody will be overweight. A guy will never, ever be 'skinny'. Perfect, evenly tanned skin will be genetic. And yeah; skinny girls will typically fight with swords about half their size. Not going to happen. You need a decent amount of muscle strength to manipulate weapons or kick butt at fighting.
It's one thing to make your character attractive; everyone does that, canon or not. Quite another to make him/her inhumanly attractive. The first is a tool to drawing in your average thinking reader. The second serves to make them run away screaming.
d. Clothing
Firstly, clothes don't really matter in a story. No, seriously. Nobody cares about the designer jeans as much as the person wearing them. Keeping clothing description to a minimum is the way to go here. Especially if the Prom Dress in question is champagne-colored silk and shiny and glitteringly sexy with an off-shoulder strap, a poofy skirt and a wide black belt. Or something like that. Settle for a maximum of two non-run-on sentences. A maximum.
Second. Armor is not sexy in PJOverse. Again, this is not an Anime. Greek armor is chunky, heavy and effective. The chainmail bikini might work for Red Sonja, but needless to say, it leaves pretty much all of the rest of your OC unprotected. This also applies to designer clothes or gowns. And heels. It's really hard to move in the things, despite how easy Wonder Woman makes it look. That's because she's Wonder Woman.
(And possibly because Comic Books are like Anime and Manga in the sense that they follow a different set of Universal Rules when compared to books. But still. Wonder Woman.)
In addition, since there are books, you have to deal with the problem of them getting tired and sweaty and messy. Nobody's going to look like they 'came off a fashion ramp' after a battle with Kampe. Never state otherwise.
e. Names
Common naming Suesim symptoms include long, four-or-more-parts names (Alluralba Desdomena Entagora Tetramena Arubiz), unusual names liberally using the letters X and Z (Zestex, Xiyaz) and exotic-theme naming (Gemstones/Colours- Violet, Sapphire, Amethyst, Beryl, Emerald, Onyx; Celestial bodies- Luna, Stella; General spookiness- Ebony, Raven, Trinity). Tread with caution, which should really go without saying now. The resulting side effects are also often ignored, because when your name is Raven Lightsaber Silverwings, you're likely to get more uncontrollable sniggering than gasps of envious awe.
2. The Superpowers-and-Skills Symptoms
Another thing to look for when you're seeking out blatant Sueism are the abilities a character might possess, normal or abnormal. The distribution of abilities is one of the ways in which you can formulaically screw up.
a. The List of Everything/Informed Ability
When you weave your story, you try to weave it to be as airtight as possible. Extra details which you have decided on but which you aren't going to actually use in the story have no place in your story. Your fic is a limited-employment venue, not a place to broadcast about everything little thing you want to say about your character. Especially if the thing in question is an ability, because excessive abilities generally serve as a major indicator of MS-ness.
For instance, let's imagine that your OC has a wonderful singing voice. It's something you have decided on about her, so you make someone in the vicinity comment on her wonderful singing voice. But it's never brought up again because your OC is too busy harnessing her newly-discovered superpowers into slaying monsters.
Mentioning she has a wonderful singing voice in the beginning and never bringing it up again serves to; (a) waste e-page-space, (b) immediately serves to make an impression in the mind of the reader that your OC is supposed to be 'ideal', and therefore an MS, and (c) leads to cases of the Informed Ability phenomenon, which is a bad thing in itself. Informed Ability is what happens when the reader is told that the character is something, and subsequent actions of the character disproves it.
A classic example is Bella Swan's supposed intelligence in Twilight. She's mentioned to be in a bunch of AP classes, and she's supposedly mature and well-adjusted, if a little gloomy. After which her boyfriend leaves her and she jumps off cliffs in an attempt to hear his voice again.
True wuv does not excuse stupidity. Not to that extent. Your characters are supposed to have personalities independent of their love interests, thank you.
(Please note that I'm not a Twilight-hater by any stretch of imagination. I just like to overanalyze and criticize everything I read. Including PJO. Or HoO, rather. I'm kinda whiny that way.)
b. The Natural/The Instant Expert
A character comes to Camp. He/she meets a few campers, he/she is given a tour. After a point, he/she is taken to an arena and given a deadly weapon, because that's what CHB is all about.
Fast forward to the next hour, where the resident supreme weapon-user at Camp is moaning and groaning on the ground at the OC's feet. Because the OC is that good at the weapon; and so wonderfully and naturally talented that he/she barely needs any training.
Needless to say, this is very wrong.
Nobody is going to be good at doing something they've never seen or practiced in a few hours or days. People can be fast learners who grasp the basic pretty quickly, yes. And the ADHD/battle reflexes thing gives us more leeway for fast learning. But try not to make your OC the 'best' at anything in a day, week, month or even a year. Thisis compounded by the fact that you have to work harder to get to higher skill levels. Like in role-playing games; getting from level one to level two is easy. Getting from level 70 to level 71 is going to take you hours of grinding.
As an example, we have Percy disarming Luke at one of his first sword-practices, using a difficult move. But that was one move. Luke was able to trounce him soundly in actual battle for years afterwards because it took Percy that long to become a swordsman on par with Luke. That's very good handling of a character who shows aptitude for something that can be developed into an extraordinary skill over time.
Oh, and this also applies to sex, for those of you who are inclined to write smutfics. Virgin sex is going to be awkward, and not just for the girl.
c. The Exotic Talent
This is what you get when you give your character a talent for which there is no precedence in canon. Typically happens because someone thinks the talent in question is 'cool' and wants their OC to have it for exactly that reason.
It's natural for an Apollo kid to have some amount of musical talent and/or foresight. An Aphrodite kid would be perfectly capable of picking out a stellar wardrobe in three minutes flat, even if he/she would rather spend hours trying outfits on and admiring herself. You can even tweak things to the extremes with sufficient justification; like Aphrodite kids having alarmingly accurate feelings about people who would match up well with each other, whether they like it or not. Or Dionysus kids developing a keen interest on the topic of insanity afflicting the human mind. Hermes kids may show an embarrassing aptitude for shepherding. Kids of Zeus may talk to airborne species or may be able to influence the people around them more easily than anyone else. As the job descriptions for the Olympians are rather vague, the possibilities for never-before-seen-in-the-books superpowers are endless. Let your crazy-powers index soar into the skies!
But pulling new superpowers out of thin air is where you draw the line. Under no circumstances will your character exhibit a power which has no connection whatsoever with his/her godly parent's sphere of influence. Justify your OC's superpowers, but stop and abandon if the path gets too convoluted. Creativity works here. :)
d. The Super-Accessories/Familiars
When you have a half-blood OC, you naturally want to give him/her a weapon. And you want the weapon to have some kind of meaning, which is perfectly understandable. Make note, however, that very few people in PJOverse have true, named weapons. Most of the extras get by using your run-of-the-mill sharp sword from the armoury. Weigh the importance of your character against the people who actually have named weapons, and decide if he/she gets one or not.
Regarding unusual weapons; remember than the people in Camp go there for training, and that most weapons used in the training are Greek in origin. There are a ton of melee weapons from different parts of the world which may be used instead, and quite a few of them are… innovative. If your OC uses a hunga munga, an urumi or ninja stars, make sure that (a) he/she has a reason for knowing about/using this weapon and (b) he/she has some venue from which he/she can get the training.
A familiar is a magical animal companion associated with a magic-user. OCs tend to have these to a large extent. It seems to be fairly rare in the PJO universe, however. The only real known case is Daedalus/Mrs. O'Leary and a case in SoN which I will not mention due to spoiler possibilities.
Try using a Greek creature, for starters. And try to make its' presence matter in the story. A familiar should have a role, and should not exist purely for the purpose of making you character look more badass than he/she would be otherwise.
e. The Superpower Lottery
Imagine an OC.
He is a Son of Zeus. He has the general powers of theZeus clan. Shockwave abilities, skywalking, super-battle-skills and whatnot. He's fighting a random monster.
The monster attacks. He retaliates. The monster is strong. The monster is competent. The monster is actually smart, and the SoZ suddenly realizes that he's not just fighting one superpowered being, but also the hundreds of minions the being has placed in the city above which the fight is happening. The SoZ's eyes narrow at this treachery, and he decides that it's time to Get Dangerous.
He calls down lighting from the skies, strong enough to destroy the city and everything in it. He calls the winds to speed him up, making him move as fast as the speed of sound. He calls to his sword, and it flickers with lightning, allowing him to easily slice through the thick armored skin of the monster and decapitate it. Instant victory, which was obvious because the extent of power of the SoZ made it clear that he had won the superpower lottery. The poor monster and his minions monster didn't stand a chance.
While having a character who's powerful, intelligent and capable of thinking on their feet is by no means a bad thing, the thing with stories is that they survive on conflict. Easy victories can be used, but only sparingly. Too much of this will make the story boring. And, in connection, there should be limits or downsides to your OC's powers. Unlimited, omnipotent power is an option which will leave the rest of your story in the dust.
There are always more ways to win a battle than by physically overpowering an enemy. They usually tend to be at least as interesting too, if not more.
End Notes: A few more things to cover in this one. Should be done by the next chapter.
Also, sorry the typos. I'm correcting them, but I seem to be overlooking a few in every read-through. :/